Page:Substance of the Work Entitled Fruits and Farinacea The Proper Food of Man.djvu/13



and profane authors unite in representing the progenitors of our race as frugivorous, i.e., eaters of grains, seeds, kernels, pulse, roots, and fruit; in contrast to the carnivorous on one side, and the herbivorous, or grass-eaters, on the other.

In Genesis i., 29, God says to Adam: "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing, seed, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed: to you it shall be for meat {i.e., food)." Here we find plainly and distinctly stated what God intended should be the food of mankind.

Again, Genesis ii., 15-17: "Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food . . . and commanded the man, saying, Of every tree in the garden (save the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) thou mayest freely eat." No one, I think, can mistake the language here employed, or arrive at any other conclusion than that fruit and herbs bearing seed were expressly granted as the food of man; and we shall find that his organization was in perfect harmony with this divine command.

In the Greek and Latin authors we find frequent allusions to that period of innocence and happiness—"the golden age"—when man fed upon the delicious fruits of the earth, without even the need of cultivation. The poet Ovid diffusely describes the moral excellence of that state (Ovid's Metam. i., 113 of Dryden's Translation), and elsewhere adds his condemnation of slaughtering beasts (xv., 137):—

The golden age is described in heathen mythology as under the dominion of the ancient god, Saturn; when, according to